This method of plastics welding with the aid of a laser beam is generally known, and is also denoted as transmission welding. It is important for this plastics welding method that the workpieces are clamped to one another during the welding operation, since an important precondition for a good welded joint of the plastics by means of laser radiation is not only the energy dose, but also the clean mechanical contact between the two adherend surfaces to be connected to one another. Various methods and devices which permit an adequate contact pressure, in particular with flat parts, are known for this purpose.
It is possible in principle not only to weld these parts to one another, but also to undertake other machining processes by means of a laser beam, such as are described, for example, in the dependent European patent application 02 001 768.7.
It is important for machining with the requisite precision that differences in contact pressure and component tolerances between the lower pressure plate and the upper pressure plate and the workpieces situated therebetween are balanced out so that each component has the same contact pressure conditions.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to propose here a possibility with the aid of which these high-precision parts can be produced quickly and rationally, there being at the same time a balancing of the contact pressure differences and component tolerances.